Which mallet for my chisels?
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9 February 2014 at 9:13 pm #27536
I’ve heard I shouldn’t use a regular hammer with my chisels but why it that? Is a rubber mallet ok? Can I use a wooden mallet? Or is a hard plastic mallet the best option? I’m on a budget so if I can get away with a wooden mallet I can make that myself 🙂
Wood or plastic, easy to make a wooden one. Avoid metal hammers as they are really hard on your chisel handles.
I was unable to buy a small piece of 3 inch thick hardwood so I just took some 1×4 maple and laminated it together. Easy to cut the wedge for the handle this way too.
9 February 2014 at 10:12 pm #27539On plastic handled chisel you can get away with using a steel hammer.
Even so using steel hammer not really good practice in my opinion.
If you have wooden handles on chisels a wooden mallet or a plastic faced hammer should be used.
Yes you could make a mallet yourself use a bit of beech would be ideal try not to use pine a little soft for a mallet.Just to be a gadfly and prove that there’s never 1 correct answer in woodworking… Take a look at Richard Maguire using a lump hammer as his primary “mallet” here: http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/?p=689 . I saw this a few months ago when I was searching for a new mallet myself. I picked up something similar at the local hardware store and have used it (although not exclusively) with very good results so far.
Having said that, I think you’ll be better off following the conventional advice to get started.
I’ve been using a rounded poly-urethane coated wood-carving hammer (maple handle). The heavier versions can be used for tougher work: like mortices. I have found it great to work with, although you wouldn’t think so by looking at it. Not exactly cheap for a hammer; but worth it.
I would stay away from regular steel, or nail-type hammers.
9 February 2014 at 11:27 pm #27547I did cringe a bit when I see Richard use his lump hammer.
I know it seems wrong but I think because of the shear weight of hammer you can take lighter blows. I cannot remember wether his chisel had a metal feral ring at the top of chisel handle.
Also I think the Japanese use steel mallets. Then again Japanese chisel are made differently to most western chisel. I think they use a socket as well as a tang.
Western chisels either use a tang or a socket not both together like Japanese chisels.
I will stay with a wooden mallet.In Germany, there are traditional wooden mallets as well as bronze ones (from brand Kirschen). IIRC, some of their chisels have a full tang (I think it’s called at least with knifes, where the blade steel goes completely through the handle), would have to look it up to verify it, though.
David
10 February 2014 at 7:11 am #27586Hi Germany, greetings from Belgium 🙂 I do a lot of my shopping on the German Amazon but I found in the case of woodworking tools that UK Amazon is significantly cheaper. Can you recommend other resellers for woodworking tools in Germany?
10 February 2014 at 3:06 pm #27595I have a couple Thor hammers.
They are ok for mortising and great for assembly. I prefer my wooden mallet for mortising. Probably to do with you have more surface area to hit chisel with wooden mallet.[quote quote=27586]Hi Germany, greetings from Belgium 🙂 I do a lot of my shopping on the German Amazon but I found in the case of woodworking tools that UK Amazon is significantly cheaper. Can you recommend other resellers for woodworking tools in Germany?[/quote]
Hi Steven,
there is a pretty nice list of vendors at holzwerken.de (http://www.holzwerken.de/werkzeug.phtml#einkauf). A good range of quality products is available from http://feinewerkzeuge.de and http://dictum.de where I have already ordered from as well as from http://www.schreinerhandel.de Aside from that, ebay can be an option. I have also ordered from amazon uk and axminster. And there is an artists shop, where you can get Kirschen chisels and gouges for a bit less than at the Kirschen shop: http://gerstaecker.deHope this helps,
DavidI had two types of mallets on my bench – the hammer type Paul uses and a turned round carving mallet – and I used both quite a bit. It wasn’t long before I found myself reaching for one over the other as a matter of personal preference. I’m not sure if it was the fit in my hand or a more effective user experience, but I now prefer a turned round wood mallet when chopping with my chisels. The preference happened without my thinking about it. I think preference for many tools develops this way, buy trying things long enough to really know how they work for YOU.
10 February 2014 at 8:03 pm #27612I use one I made from maple, like the one Paul sometimes uses. It’s got some real momentum and makes short work of most tasks without damaging my chisels.
I want to make another one at some point, similar to the new one by Blue Spruce. I really like the form of traditional wooden mallets and this one looks lovely.
http://www.bluesprucetools.com/cgi/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MLTJNR2George.
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